Mechanical seal assemblies for sealing fluids from each other and associated with a stationary housing and a rotatable shaft are well known in the art The housing may house a pump impeller connected to the rotatable shaft. To substantially eliminate leakage of the pump fluid from the housing, a mechanical seal assembly is used. Generally these mechanical seal assemblies comprise a seal ring connected to the housing and a seal ring connected to the shaft, the rings having opposing seal faces one or both of which are resiliently urged toward the other. Such construction can leave the resilient means exposed to one of the fluids--i.e., (1) fluid being pumped and (2) air or other fluid. If the fluid being pumped is chemically active, it can corrode and damage the resilient means and/or other parts of the assembly.